


four past three

by mintgreyashes



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Angst, Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:07:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24093340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintgreyashes/pseuds/mintgreyashes
Summary: It's four past three.Tsuna wakes up with something prickling at his skin, his heart working in overdrive and sweat-soaked sheets.Four past three, when he decides to head down to the kitchen to get a glass of water, before going back to bed.He never makes it back.Nana is the one that finds him.
Relationships: Reborn & Sawada Nana, Reborn & Sawada Tsunayoshi, Sawada Nana & Sawada Tsunayoshi
Comments: 8
Kudos: 134





	four past three

**Author's Note:**

> Beta read by: @yunliu on ao3
> 
> -  
> -  
> -
> 
> Inspired by my own mother, who screamed at me yesterday for passing out on the couch lol. She woke up at 6am and found me in the living room, then yelled at me to go back to sleep in my own room. 
> 
> She told me that she just kind of knew that I was still in the living room so she felt the need to go check if I was still there (and to yell at me lol.) And she called it 'a mother's intuition.' Hence, this story was born lol.

It's four past three.

Tsuna wakes up, a feeling of _something_ prickling at his skin. The itch spreads, coursing through his veins. It's almost unbearable.

His body feels sluggish, and his muscles ache, feeling like heavy lead.

_What's... happening?_

Faint nausea washes over him as he thinks this. He trembles, fingers curling around his blanket as his heart races away. Slowly, he sits up.

Sweat soaks through his sheets and his breathing comes out slightly ragged. Something uneasy settles in his gut.

_A nightmare?_

If it was, he doesn't recall what it was about. 

Tsuna swallows back a nervous laugh, before coughing softly, wincing at the way it scratches at his throat. 

The uneasy feeling grows, lingering as he notices the way his mouth feels like sandpaper. It's uncomfortable, so much so that he instead directs his attention to the darkness in his room; a welcome distraction. 

Then, his vision shifts to the corner of the room, where a hammock in the corner remains suspiciously empty. And he can only sigh, slightly wistfully.

Still no demon baby. 

Reborn wasn't home yet, it seemed, and he hadn't been for a few days now, seeing as he was away for some business at God-knows-where.

The wave of uneasiness chooses then to increase almost exponentially, the alarm slamming right into him, leaving chills down his spine and a foreboding feeling.

Tsuna shivers. 

_Maybe... I'll get some water, then go back to sleep._

_I might be getting sick._

He slips out of his warm bed, faltering. The chill of the hardwood floors catches him off-guard. Vertigo seizes him abruptly. He nearly faceplants into the ground.

"Right," he mutters shakily, steadying himself. "Let's not.. do that again. Water, then back to bed."

He tries not to dwell on the feeling that his legs feel like they could give way at any moment.

An unnatural heat spreads throughout his body, sending his heart and thoughts into overdrive, hair beginning to dampen from sweat.

Slowly and painfully, he begins his venture down the stairs and into the kitchen, taking care to be extra silent.

It wouldn't be good to wake up his mother and the kids, after all.

And despite the fact that Tsuna feels almost like collapsing, almost like shutting down because _gosh, he feels kind of tired now,_ he still feels his lips curl into a fond smile.

_I guess they'll all be sleeping like the dead at this time._

He laughs lightly at that, grabbing a glass cup from the upper cabinet and walking over to the jug of water by the countertop.

 _I wonder what I'll do tomorrow?_ He muses. _Ah, maybe I should help Mom with some chores._

_It's been a while since we last had some time together... couldn't hurt, right?_

And the glass in his hands comes crashing to the ground. 

The sound of it doesn't register, and vaguely, he feels darkness overwhelm his sight, and the static fill the white noise in his head.

His legs give way, and Tsuna falls, that tiny smile still present as he crumples forward.

 _It'll be nice,_ he thinks, feeling pleasantly warm and tired, so, so tired.

He never makes it back to bed.

\--

It's four past three.

Sawada Nana startles awake, a feeling of uneasiness spreading throughout her body as she sits up.

For a moment, there is quiet, and she doesn't know what wakes her. Only, there is a heaviness sinking in her gut as she stares at the shadows in her room. 

Distantly, a part of her registers it. 

_It's too late,_ a voice tells her, solemn and weary.

Too late for what, exactly?

And yet, she isn't sure she really wants to know. 

But she gets her answer a second later anyway. The moment she hears someone clambering down the stairs; there and loud and clumsy footsteps, a noise that only Tsuna would make. 

_That's strange... Tsu-kun should be asleep by now._

The mother-hen inside her frowns at this. Something compels her to check, to just make sure that nothing was amiss, and she slips on her slippers, leaving the comforting warmth of her bed.

Then, she descends down the stairs, a tired, "Tsu-kun, what are you doing still awake?" leaving her lips, just as she turns a corner into the kitchen.

A glass shatters.

Nana watches as her son crumples to the ground, falling forward like a puppet freed from its strings. She screams out. 

"Tsu-kun!"

She crouches next to her still, too still, son, and gathers his limp form in her arms. "Tsu-kun, what's wrong? Wake up!"

Gracelessly and clumsily, she lightly presses a shaking hand to Tsuna's wrist.

There is no pulse.

Her child is gone.

She screams again. The lights flicker on.

Someone enters the room, a panicked, "Mama?" echoing. Nana remembers no more then on. 

\--

"How... is he?"

"It was most likely due to the strain using so much of his flames at such a young age. His body couldn't handle it all. His heart gave out. I… For all it's worth, I'm sorry, Reborn. I tried my best."

A beat passes in quiet. 

"I see."

\--

Nana wakes up to a white room.

White wall, fluroscent lights, and a feeling of wrong.

"Are you awake, Mama?" Someone stands from the corner of the quiet room, announcing their presence as they step forward.

She nods. There is a hollow ache in her chest, as she asks, "Where's Tsuna?"

There is silence for a moment. 

Reborn hesitates.

Nana sees the way his hands are trembling. The way the immaculate black suit he always wears is crumpled and wrinkled at the sleeves.

Reborn has shadows under his eyes, a darkness that seeps into his very aura. He allows his fedora to obstruct his gaze, away from Nana's own searching eyes.

She answers her own question. 

"He's... gone, isn't he?" 

And the way Reborn deflates, anguished, carrying the news of the defeat of a thousand men; it is enough of a confirmation for her.

She cannot find it in herself to shed a single tear. Numbness settles over her, as the hollow ache swallows her whole, plunging her into the murky depths of acceptance.

Because perhaps deep down, perhaps she'd already known. A mother's instinct, an innate intuition that she's tried so hard to ignore. 

That Tsuna had been gone, even before he'd hit the ground. 

She can only hope that he'd been happy as he'd left. Despite being in pain. Despite having been unaware.

Had he been lonely?

The mother in her already knows this too. She had known the answer from the moment she had opened the door to that life-changing tutor.

_He was happy, right until the end._

**Author's Note:**

> I still have no idea idea where this story went though, haha-
> 
> \--  
> Beta read by; @yunliu , thank you so much you amazing kimchi TwT


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